Daniel K. Azongo

Position before the programme: Research Officer/Head of fieldwork Navrongo HDSS, Ghana
Current Position : Senior Research Officer/Head, Navrongo HDSS, Ghana
Student years at Wits University: 2006 - 2007
Host HDSS centre for the field attachment: Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, South Africa

According to Daniel, the overall focus of the programme was to build his capacity to be able to identify key bio-medical and public health problems that may be addressed by epidemiological or demographic studies and design solutions to those problems−skills that were immediately useful when he returned to Ghana as well as contributing to the core business of his institution; proposal development, implementing health research projects and contributing to data analysis and scientific writing for peer review journals.

“I had the opportunity to do my field attachment at the Africa Centre (AC) for Health and Population Studies. At Africa Centre, I had the privilege of working with a wide range of scientist including Epidemiologist, Demographers, Data Managers and GIS technicians. It was such a rich experience working with my supervisors Prof. Frank Tanser, the Director Prof. Marie Louise-Newell, Colin Newell and the rest of the staff. Our group of three (Daniel, James Ndirangu and Natsayi Chimbindi) had all the exposure and fun at the centre”, Daniel recalled.

He said during his time at the Wits University, one of the most profound experiences he had was at Agincourt HDSS where students were taught HDSS relational data base management by Prof. Sam Clark and the leadership module by Prof. Stephen Tollman.

“I am most grateful to the lecturers at Wits University for all the good work that they are doing,” he added.

“It has been an honour to be an INDEPTH Fellow and to be awarded the opportunity to study at such a great institution. Indeed the fellowship programme has equipped me with a lot of new skills including the ability to design a project, start it, and complete it. A fellowship that allows you to pursue your passion, it's been the best time of my life!” he said.

Daniel’s thesis publication was on Spatial analysis of Schsitosomaisis haematobium infection among school children in a rural sub-district of South Africa: An application of geographical information systems.